County studies distribution of donated money for Las Vegas shooting

Clark County commissioners and staff will meet with representatives of a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Thursday to determine how best to deliver donated money to victims of the Route 91 Harvest festival mass shooting, County Manager Yolanda King said.

“We are going to have tens of thousands of people that are donating money for this cause, and so we have to figure out how to structurally set up protocols on how we want to get that money distributed,” King said.

The National Center for Victims of Crime would help the county establish a single entity to collect donations, County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said.

The center reported that it opened a National Compassion Fund for Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The center reported that it distributed more than $32 million to victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. The center also distributed money to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said using a single entity for donations will help prevent scams.

“You don’t want victims being revictimized,” Giunchigliani said. “And you want families to be able to get the money for not just right now but for long-term injuries that may come about.”

The National Center for Victims of Crime could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Millions collected

Donations for local victims began pouring in the morning after a gunman opened fire on the country music festival near the Mandalay Bay. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, killing 59 people and injuring 489.

A GoFundMe fundraising webpage created by County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak and Las Vegas police has collected more than $9 million from more than 72,000 donors as of Wednesday night. Donations have been made from at least 75 countries, GoFundMe representative Bobby Whithorne told the Review-Journal.

Whithorne said GoFundMe will assist state officials and nonprofit partners like the National Center for Victims of Crime in managing the funds.

King said she has spoken to GoFundMe representatives and that they appear willing to work with the National Center for Victims of Crime.

“I can assure you the money will be well-spent,” Sisolak said while holding back tears during Wednesday’s commission meeting.

Sisolak said he envisioned the money going to victims and their families to pay for medical treatments, funerals, travel and other costs related to the attack.

“The needs are going to be enormous,” Sisolak said. “We have people that are going to need surgeries for the next several years. I’ve got children who lost parents, and people who lost spouses. So we’re going to do whatever we can to raise money for them.”

Whithorne said the website will keep its typical donation fees in place, which are 7.9 percent and 30 cents per donation. However, the company has also made its own donation of $150,000 to the campaign.